Quote Challenge Day 1 - The light at the end of the tunnel

'There will be light at the end of the tunnel.'

It is a phrase we have often heard as we grew up, a cliched motivator for times when we are down. The concept was to inspire people to hang in there awhile longer. Give time a chance to find a solution to what ails you. 

Sadly in today's world, with all the gadgets and doodads that exist to save our precious hours, we conversely find ourselves succumbing more frequently to our inner demons. Where earlier we could drown our sorrows for the most part in work and life, now we find ourselves being held hostage by the abundance of free moments, wallowing in our memories and allowing them to crush us by reminding us of the dreams that have been shattered. Time, always the most assured healer, is ironically the villain of the piece too when the heart that is at unrest is left alone, often even though the person is right in the middle of a crowd.

They say we are a generation that is impatient. That we cannot wait and we demand results. That we are too impatient to even wait for the light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps we are but then how is admonishing us for it going to be helpful to a heart that is broken and seeks relief? 

My quote for Day 1 of the 3 day Quote challenge is not, in fact, 'There will be a light at the end of the tunnel.' It is something that got me through my worst moments in life and brought me to a stage where I could achieve so many dreams I did not even imagine possible for myself.

My quote for today - "The light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion. The tunnel is."

My policy and one which I ask others with broken hearts and dreams to follow is simple - don't wait for a healer to come and fix things in your life. Know that you yourself can be your own healer. 

• Accept that you may have lost this dream, be it a coveted job or an affair of the heart. 
• Remember that you are a wonderful person who had a life and had dreams and ambitions even before this setback that has fazed you. 
• Realize that there are a million more dreams and life goals that await you and each of them will help not just in the process of healing you but in making you the true champion you are capable of becoming.
• Stop focusing on the tunnel. Look beyond, identify the bright light and focus on it until the true irrelevance of the tunnel becomes clear to you.  
• Above all else, stop convincing yourself it is the end of the world. It is not. It never is. 

This world is full of amazing moments, achievements and goals that you don't even know you are going to achieve yet. So stop believing that a failure or two is the end of who you are when the truth is that it is just the beginning of your beautiful journey to a successful life. 

Author's note:

Aseem tagged me for the 3 day quote challenge. The rules are as follows - 

1. Post one of your favorite quotes (different quote on each day) on three consecutive days. The quote can be from your favorite book, author, or your own.
2. Nominate 3 bloggers to challenge them.
3. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

Thanks Aseem. Away from the usual contests for prizes that has been filling my blog recently, it is nice to get back to writing from the heart. As for tagging people, everyone is free to take this up. Just send me a link to your posts in the comment section so that I can check it out too.

As for the quotes themselves, well... each quote I have chosen represents a part of my life. Somewhere in the course of these ten years in the blogosphere, they have appeared in the blog at defining moments. 

The quote above is from my post on Suicide Prevention from 2014 - 'This is Not How My Story Ends'.